


i'm love with her (and she with me)

by userBLU030424



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, F/F, Fluff, Gen, It's all fluff, Kyle and Lonnie learned sign language, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Character, OC, One Shot, Original Character(s), Rogelio can't speak so he signs, catra is in denial but not really, kid catradora, minor mention of shadow weaver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27631009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/userBLU030424/pseuds/userBLU030424
Summary: The cadets, on occasion, are visited by an officer that simply wants to teach them more about the things outside the Horde. One day, Kyle asks them what a crush is and Catra doesn't know whether to be thankful or embarrassed because Adora won't let it go.ORAdora is not afraid to express her feelings and Catra just wants to be the tough kid.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio (She-Ra), Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 134





	i'm love with her (and she with me)

“What’s a crus?” 

The small circle of cadets fell quiet, a tinge of fear shining in their eyes as they snapped their heads back at Kyle who had asked the question. They weren’t supposed to talk about feelings. ‘Soft, useless’ feelings, especially the ones that’d make your stomach all funny. Although she had refused to explain why, Shadow Weaver had made it very clear it was forbidden for them to even think about it. Still, no one jumped up to counter the question, all trying desperately to hide their obvious curiosity. 

Catra scoffed, loudly. The heads all turned to her, some even looking annoyed at her interruption. She didn’t really care. All she wanted was a pair of pale baby blue eyes to look back at her and she’d gotten what she wanted. Smiling contentedly, she relaxed her shoulders and looked back to the only officer that actually wanted them to learn about the outside. 

“A crush you mean?” 

The little blonde boy nodded shyly, the bewilderment in his hung open mouth collectively shared by the rest of the children. The officer just laughed, a low, friendly chuckle that seemed to erupt from the depths of their chest. 

“Hmmmmmm,” they thought out loud, comically scratching their chin, enjoying the way the cadets were hanging to their every move. Even Catra had both her ears perked up, unable to mask her own interest. A soft giggle erupted right by her, snapping her out of focus. She glared at its source, Adora, looking away to hide her reddened cheeks. Adora laughed again, bumping her shoulder against Catra’s, whispering a soft “don’t worry, I won’t tell” before she settled back and waited for the officer’s response. 

“Now you all have to swear never to repeat this to anyone,” they said, careful to meet each cadet’s gaze while they all nodded eagerly, holding their breath in. Once satisfied, the officer shifted slightly, an air of seriousness washing over their usually playful eyes. “A crush is when you like somebody very very much, but it’s a special kind of like. You want to spend all your time with them, and you want to impress them. Sometimes, when you look at them, your face gets all hot and red. It’s called blushing.” 

The officer paused, giving the cadets some time to internalize their words. The group of children all sat in silence, some faces tainted with embarrassment as they stared at the floor. Catra very quickly looked to Adora, curious to see how the other was reacting about what had just been said. The latter had a small frown on her face, seemingly trying to make sense of the new information. 

“Sometimes,” the adult continued, drawing every pair of eyes on them again, “people fall in love when they like each other a lot. And when they do, and stay in love for a long time, some might want to marry each other. To marry just means to promise the person you like you'll stay together forever.” 

Rogelio’s arm shot up, grunting softly to make sure he’d get the officer’s attention. When he had gotten it, he quickly signed to Kyle who translated it easily. 

“Rogelio’s asking what fall in love means.” 

The officer smiled proudly. “That’s for you to decide,” they answered, chuckling once more at the cadets’ noise of protest and confusion. “No really,” they said, still laughing, “you need to figure out what being in love means to you. It’s different for everyone." They shifted again, their easy-going smirk growing each passing second as more little arms shot up to ask questions. 

“Lonnie, you go first.” 

“Does that mean Catra and Adora like each other? Or Catra likes Adora because she’s always all red when Adora is arou-” 

“I DO NOT LIKE ADORA!” Catra screeched, ready to pounce on the brown skinned girl, only to have Adora wrap her arms around her stomach and pull her back down, a stern look on her face as she shook her head no. Catra huffed, crossed her arms and stared at the floor, mumbling to herself. 

Lonnie continued, a mischievous smirk painting her features, “And Kyle likes Rogelio,” she added smugly, ignoring the whimpers and grunts of protests. “It’s true! I saw him get all red, almost like our shirts, when Rogelio gave him an extra ration, and Rogelio started to do all this crazy stuff to get Kyle’s attention when they started to learn how to talk with their hands. He even told him he liked his hair!” 

Their superior gave an amused glance to Lonnie. “And how do you know all that? Did you also learn how to talk with your hands?” 

“Well yeah,” she answered truthfully, “what happens when Kyle isn’t there? And Rogelio’s my best friend anyway I wanted to know all the things he couldn’t tell me before.” 

“I get red a lot already, like when I run, but sometimes when Catra is with me my face feels hot. Do I like Catra?” Adora questioned, interrupting the prior conversation, a very serious expression etched on her features. Catra choked on her own breath, now desperately trying to hide her coughs while Lonnie snickered loudly. 

The officer quirked a curious eyebrow, their eyes lazily going back and forth between Catra and Adora’s figures a few feet away. The blonde girl had a cautionary hand firmly set on her brunette friend’s shoulder, careful on keeping the other in place and ready to intervene if needed. 

“Sure.” 

“So Catra and I can marr-”

“What does that even _mean_?” Catra asked, cutting in. She shook the girl's hand off. Her cheeks still felt warm, but she refused to be talked about without knowing what the exchange entailed. Adora gazed at her, smiling softly as she turned back to the officer. 

They laughed again, a fond look in their eyes as they regarded the cadets, "Again, marrying simplified is to promise the person you love to stay with them forever." 

Kyle raised his arm, cheeks still stained pink from Lonnie’s remarks and not waiting to be called as he remarked, "You haven't told us what it means to love yet." He looked to Rogelio, eyes hopeful and waiting. The aforementioned grunted in thanks and signed quickly. Kyle’s face bloomed into a sheepish smile. 

"Right." The officer paused and thought to themselves again, a small silence settling in. Their eyebrows furrowed as they answered the question. "For me, to be in love is to feel very happy or safe whenever the other person is in the room. It's this really warm feeling inside my chest. Sometimes it's overwhelming but that's only because I love them a lot. At the end of the day though, it feels really nice." 

Adora raised her hand up as soon as the officer was done, conviction steeling her eyes. Catra frowned. That's the face Adora made whenever she was going to say something stupid. 

"Yes Adora?" 

"I am love with Catra. I feel all you said you feel but with her. So I'm love with Catra." 

Catra choked again. The warmth she had felt in her cheeks spread to her neck, to her ears. She looked at Adora as she tried to stop coughing again. Her best friend had a small, self satisfied smile pulling at her lips, a gleam of pride shining in her eyes when she looked back at Catra. She grinned when their eyes met, flashing her a thumbs up as she nodded excitedly at her. 

"Yes Adora," the officer offered softly. "If that's the case then I guess you can say you're in love with Catra." 

"Officer, we're also already married." 

Catra's eyes widened in disbelief, her tongue stumbling on words that wouldn't come out. 

"I'm sorry, what? You're already married?" 

Adora puffed her chest out defiantly, as if to challenge anyone who'd deny her claim. "Yes, we are married. I promised her we'd stay together forever just three days ago. If you want, I can repeat exactly what I told her. 'I look out for you, and you look out for-'" 

Catra jumped on Adora, making the latter fall on her back. She hastily put her hand over Adora's mouth, ignoring the tongue licking her palm. She shot a face at Adora, disgusted but nowhere near backing down. 

The officer blinked, taken aback with what had just happened. The other cadets just shrugged, unfazed, turning back to look at their instructor, too used to whatever relationship dynamic Catra and Adora had between each other. The grown-up shrugged it off, a playful smile dancing on their lips as they answered more questions from the children. 

Adora kicked and squirmed, trying to escape from Catra's hold. Catra however stayed perched on her, pinning her to the ground with her hand still set on the other's mouth, refusing to let her say anything more embarrassing. 

The officer paid them no mind and soon enough, Adora stopped fighting and relented to listening to the rest of the session. She stayed like that until the very end, when their instructor stood up and shooed them away, urging them to make it on time for their training. Catra had gotten off Adora swiftly, but not before she glared at the blonde. The latter raised her arm up in mock defeat, a smug look on her face as she followed Catra and the rest of their cadets out of their quarters. 

* * * 

Catra laid on her bed, atop of the covers as she stared blankly at the ceiling. It'd happen often, nights in which she just couldn't sleep. Usually, she'd climb down and annoy Adora until she was tired. Today though, training had been especially rough. Catra had watched Adora stumble into her bed head first, groaning into the pillow, an unlikely behaviour unless she was spent.

_Still_ , Catra thought, _I'd really like to talk to her_. 

It was now day three after the little marriage talk with their officer and Adora had been bringing it up _every single day_ :

"So Catra, I asked Officer J and they said when people marry, they take each other's name. So now I'm Adora Catra, and you're Catra Adora." 

"Hey Catra, since we're married, I asked officer J about it again and they mentioned people usually invite their friends for a party after they get married. I told Lonnie and the others to sneak extra ration bars so we can put it all together and try to party." 

"Catra! Apparently, some people can't like other people. They said it was called being assesual. Officer J. They also said some people can like a lot of people at the same time and they can all get married together. They called it being pony which confused me because a few weeks ago they told us it was a small animal. Right?" 

"Oh yeah, Catra. You're my wife, and I am your wife. Officer J said that's what you can call the person you married if they're a girl. They told me there was also husband for when the person you marry is a boy, and spouse for non-binary people like them and their partner." 

Catra shook her head, smiling when she remembered how proud Adora looked about teaching her new things. Sure, it was really embarrassing to blush every time Adora brought up them being "married," completely ignoring Catra who always claimed it wasn't true. 

A small knock on the bottom of her bunk brought her out of her train of thought. Staying still, she waited a few seconds to make sure it wasn't her imagination. 

Another knock sounded, this time accompanied by Adora's horrible attempt at whispering. 

"Catraaaaa...Catra can you come down please? I need to tell about what Officer J told me today." 

Rolling her eyes, Catra sat up and swung herself down, landing squarely on Adora's stomach. 

"Oof-" 

Catra snickered and rolled off, criss crossing her legs as she faced Adora who was still trying to catch her breath. She grinned, happy to see Adora still awake and being the one for once to call her over.

"What's up?" Catra asked. 

Adora glared at her before her face morphed into one of seriousness. It would have worried Catra if she wasn't aware this would only be about some lesson with Officer J.

The blonde girl took a deep breath. She stared into Catra's eyes intently before she spoke up. 

"I need to give you something special to me for other people to know we're married so they don't try to marry you." 

Catra cocked her head to the side, lost. Adora continued. 

"Officer J said that when people are married they usually carry an item to tell people around them they're married. So I have to give you something, but I don't have anything but my clothes and my hair ties." 

Catra snickered, "Okay but how many times do I have to tell you we're not married." 

"Yes we are." 

"No we aren't" 

"We are." 

"Not." 

"But we are." 

"Not." 

"Okay fine. Why are we not married? I like you, I am love with you and I promised to stay with you forever. That's what you need to be married." 

"Actually," Catra began, "marriage is very different for a bunch of people. Like they all do it differently." 

"How do you know?" Adora questioned, suspiciously squinting at Catra. 

The latter smirked, crossing her arms, leaning back. "I heard some of the older kids talking about it. You need a paper you and your spouse have to sign." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah. And also, we aren't really married if we can't have sleepovers freely." 

"Who-" 

"Lastly, I can't marry you until you throw Shadow Weaver in poo." 

Adora stared at her perplexed, mouth hung open wide. 

"Who tol-" 

"No one," Catra answered. "I made the two last rules myself. We'll only be married when you do them all." 

"Who said you could make the rules?" 

"I did." 

Adora pouted and huffed, copying Catra as she crossed her arms, a slight blush spreading slowly on her cheeks. They sat in silence for several minutes. 

"Fine." 

"Fine?" 

"Yeah, fine. I agree to your terms. But tossing Shadow Weaver in poo has to wait cuz she's too tall." 

Catra chuckled, surprised at how easily Adora had agreed with her. Her friend was averting her eyes though, failing miserably at being discreet with the way she tried to push her back to the wall of their bed. 

“What are you doing?” Catra questioned, bringing her face closer to Adora’s. The blonde’s cheeks grew even redder than before. 

“Nothing.” 

“You’re lying.” 

“I’m not.” 

“Are to.” 

“I’m not.” 

Catra grunted, “Adora, you’re a terrible liar. Just tell me what’s going on.” 

Adora sat still for a few moments before she shyly drew her covers away, revealing two markers. One blue, the other red. Catra remained quiet, eyeing the markers with a questioning look. 

“You- You stole markers? Never thought you had it in you but now I’m just confused. What are they for?” 

Adora groaned weakly, rolling out of the way to let Catra see the answer to her question rather than answer it herself. “Please don’t laugh. I know it’s not the best.” she pleaded weakly. 

Catra’s eyes were immediately drawn to scribbles on the wall. She couldn't make out what they were and so she crawled closer, gasping once she recognized a drawn version of herself. 

“You drew this?” The feline asked breathlessly. Adora nodded. “Why would you?” 

“I just- I just thought that since I couldn’t give you any special belongings, I drew us. Maybe to remind me, or you, that we’ll get to be really married one day. Like without you...denying it? And sleepovers. And Shadow Weavers in poo. It’s like my second promise to you.” 

Catra lifted her hand up, trailing her fingers along the rough straight lines that all came together to make her. Her chest felt full, happy. She grinned. “Shadow Weaver’s not going to be happy about this.” 

Adora scoffed, now sitting up again. “If you don’t like it you also could’ve told me.” 

“No, no I like it. I like it a lot.” Catra chuckled. “Pass me the other marker.” 

“Uh, why? And are you sure?” 

“One, I gotta draw you and two, yes I’m sure dummy.” 

Catra blindly extended her arm to Adora, waiting for the marker to be dropped in her palm. When she felt it drop into her hand, she brought it back and uncapped it, starting to draw her own version of Adora. 

“Since, you know, marriage is an agreement between two people, consider this me sealing and accepting your promise.” Catra mumbled as she doodled. “One day, when we’re older, we’ll also have our own special things we can give to each other. So other people will know you’re..uh my wife. And me your wife.” She finished, barely audible as she drew her last line. Adora had not said a word, nor moved. Catra put the lid back on the marker, ready to make a quick exit. 

She startled when she felt two arms aggressively pull her back into a small body. Adora squeezed, harder than she ever had before, a grin showing off her gap where her tooth fallen out the month before. A light laugh escaped her lips, spurring Catra to chuckle in delight with her. The feline admittedly did not remember the last time she had felt this safe. 

“I really gotta throw Shadow Weaver in poo now.”

**Author's Note:**

> fluff to personally redeem myself from the angst i wrote a few weeks ago :^D


End file.
